Why Air Purifiers Can Help Asthma Sufferers

People who suffer from asthma, allergies, and other breathing disorders experience these symptoms for a variety of reasons. The causes for each individual may be different, but the outcome is usually similar; the victim has difficulty breathing. Understanding the variation in cause for asthma will help you in knowing how to reduce your asthma symptoms with an air purifier. Although Air Purifiers are not medical devices, they can help reduce symptoms by removing particles and offensive odors and gases from the air. This in turn can reduce irritants that stimulate asthmatic episodes.

Air Filtration helps Asthma by removing particles from the air. As air passes through a filter, it traps particles that cannot get through the filter. Some of these filters are of course better than others and the quality and efficiency of particle removal in the air will depend on how many air changes the purifier can make each hour. A good filtration system for asthma sufferers should at least meet HEPA efficiency standards. Otherwise, the particle removal may not be effective enough to make a difference. A good filtration system also incorporates heavy carbon filtration to remove odors and gases from the air. It does via an adsorption (not absorption) process whereby the gases in the air become linked to the carbon via a loose chemical bond. This helps take care of some of the odor and gas issues in the air. It's effectiveness is also dependent on the number of air changes the purifier makes per hour. The recommended number of air changes for someone dealing with asthma and allergies is 4-6.

Active air purifiers do not use filters. They use natural processes that occur in nature and recreate them indoors. These types of systems can have significant benefits for asthma and allergy sufferers. Because they are active processes, they can clean the air faster and in some cases, more effectively than filtration systems. This in turn helps asthma sufferers experience relief quicker. There have been amazing reports of what these types of air purifiers have been able to do for asthma and allergy sufferers.

But there can also be complications. These systems get rid of odors and gases in the air through an oxidation process that creates chemical reactions in the air. At times when the air is in the initial stages of being cleaned up, funny odors can emerge that may become irritating. These too will get broken down as they are a natural off gassing byproduct of the oxidation process. In all the situations I have observed, if the person stepped out of the home for the day while the home was initially being cleaned up, the bad smells were gone when they returned. Not only were they gone, but they did not reoccur again. For others, the complication can be irritation from particles moving around in the air as a result of active purifier process. Again, if the person stepped out of the home for a day while the particles were removed from the air, they returned to a positive experience.

Air Purifiers should be an integral part of your asthma reduction plan. They have a tremendous impact on long term health. Do not approach it with the attitude of "I'll try it and see if it works." Approach air purification with the attitude, "if my asthma problem is air related, the right air purifier will help me reduce my asthma symptoms.

My personal recommendation, which comes from years of experience working with asthma sufferers and air purification, is that you should consider both an air filtration system and an active air purifier. See our recently published article on the Top 2 air purifier companies in the world to get a feel for what some of the best available options can do for you.